Thomas Henry Miller

Thomas was born Abt. 1812, Maryland, USA – 17 Oct 1911, Owen Sound, Ontario

Farm - Conc 1, Division 1 of Lot 22, Conc 2, Lot 22, Holland Township, Grey County, Ontario, Canada

Thomas Henry Miller the well-known and beloved resident of Owen Sound came to Ontario from Maryland, U.S.A., with his parents Henry and Priscilla Miller, his baby son Thomas Henry Jr., and his two younger sisters Catherine and Rachel around 1836-37 settling in York Township for a time.  On his Naturalization Registration of 20 August 1845, he was residing in the Township of York on 10th February 1841.

Like his father Henry, Thomas strived to procure land in Grey County to start a new life. He received his location ticket for Conc 1, 1st Division of Lot 22 in Holland Tsp which was located almost directly across the Garafraxa Road from his father’s Sullivan Tsp farm on 22 April 1844.  In the ‘Certain Land on Garafraxa Road 1844-1845 Report, it is noted that, “This report resulted in a ‘personal inspection’ made in the month of November 1848 – embracing only the Granted Lands for which Patents have not been received by the locatees”.  Thomas is listed as having cleared one acre as of the 1848 report.

(NOTE: Thomas’ father Henry Miller worked for six years clearing and cultivating this lot. He petitioned the Governor General requesting that he be granted a deed for the land and offered a fair price. However, that request was denied. For more information please see the blog on Henry and Priscilla Miller

1851 Canada Census - Thomas Miller

For unclear reasons, Thomas left the 50-acre lot that he held the location ticket for and his father continued cultivating the land, while he moved to a different 50-acre farm plot on Con 2, Lot 22 next to his brother-in-law Scott White. He was found residing with the Whites, their two children, and 10-year-old Caroline Parker who was noted as being a servant when the 1851 census was taken.

Although he resided with his sister’s family next door, the Agricultural Schedule for that census shows that Thomas (and his father Henry), had been working to cultivate Lot 22. The schedule notes that 4 acres for crops had been cleared and that 2 acres of wheat had been planted which produced 30 bushels, a half acre of barley produced 14 bushels, a half acre of oats produced 14 bushels, and a half acre of Indian corn yielded 13  bushels, and a half acre of potatoes produced 10 bushels.

Thomas Miller did not receive a deed or a patent for this land. The patent for Con 2, the east part of Lot 22 covering a 50-acre lot was granted to John MacInnis Sr., on 18 Jan 1856. A strange item is listed right beneath this notation in the land registry book, a sale dated from 19 Nov 1849 for part of Lot 22 from Robert Orr & Wife to Hugh Orr & Others for $660.00 but was not registered on 25 Nov 1859, ten years after the transaction took place. This seems strange as the sale was supposedly completed 7 years BEFORE the crown patent was even given to John MacInnis Sr. but was not registered on the books until 3 years AFTER the crown patent was registered.  If these dates are correct, it means that Thomas Miller was farming land that belonged to someone else. Perhaps Thomas was aware of the ownership and willingly worked the farm for pay or rented the land. To date, no documentation has been found to prove either theory.

Whatever the reason, Thomas decided to give up on farming, and by the 1861 census, he was living in Owen Sound with his new wife Sarah Boardly and their five children, plus Caroline (from the 1851 census), who is now 19 years old, and is listed under the ‘Miller’ surname, and his son Thomas Henry Jr., (who was listed as residing with both his grandparents in Sullivan Tsp and his father in Owen Sound in this census).

When Thomas’ father Henry died in the spring of 1869, he bequeathed him the Sullivan Tsp farm and all that went with it on the stipulation that the farm was not to be sold and it was to be passed on to 3 specific family members after Thomas’ death.. The farm ultimately stayed in his name until his death in October 1911.

Thomas lived a long, fruitful and by all accounts well-lived life. Thomas fathered at least thirteen children and went on to become a central figure in the ‘coloured community’ of Owen Sound. As a lay preacher, he co-founded the BME Church in town along with the still-running Emancipation Celebration Picnic that commemorates and celebrates the end of slavery within the British Commonwealth. Thomas was buried on 19 Oct 1911 in the Greenwood Cemetery Indigent Plot G-BLE-O in Owen Sound.

On 25 June, 2023 descendants, and friends came together at Harrison Park in Owen Sound to honour the memory of Thomas Henry Miller. This plaque will be attached to the wall in the BME Church in Owen Sound once the restoration has been completed

Written and researched by Nancy M. Lee